AI startups captured nearly 33% of global venture capital funding in 2024, securing a staggering $120 billion in investments, according to PitchBook. This upward trajectory is expected to continue in 2025, with enterprise tech and AI driving record-breaking growth. A report predicts that advancements in generative AI, automation, and specialized AI models will further fuel this momentum, with major cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) committing billions to support AI innovation. 

The surge in AI funding has led to a notable increase in the number of new startups entering the space. In Q1 2025 alone, over 150 AI-focused startups secured initial funding, collectively raising more than $5 billion across various sectors, from enterprise automation and cybersecurity to healthcare and creative industries. 

Some notable rounds include the $250 million round raised by Celestial AI, $3.5 billion funding raised by Anthropic at $61.5 billion valuation and $305 million secured by Together AI at $3.3 billion valuation. While these are some big names in the industry, we also saw investments in new companies such as Rival Technologies raised $4.2 million in funding and Nace.AI picked up $5 million in funding. 

With investor confidence at an all-time high, these startups are well-positioned to redefine industry standards and shape the future of AI. That said, here is a list of 10 new AI startups that emerged stealth with funding in early 2025, ready to disrupt their respective fields. 

Latent Labs (UK)

Founder/s: Simon Kohl
Founded year: 2023
Total funding: $59.1M

Leveraging expertise from DeepMind’s AlphaFold, Latent Labs applies AI to accelerate protein design to engineer novel proteins with precision. The company aims to revolutionise drug discovery by developing custom proteins for therapeutic applications. Its proprietary AI models allow rapid iteration and optimisation, addressing complex biological challenges that traditional methods struggle to solve

The company has raised $50 million in funding, which includes $40ML million Series A co-led by Radical Ventures and Sofinnova Partners, with participation from Flying Fish, Isomer, and existing investors 8VC, Kindred Capital, and Pillar VC. This funding will enable Latent Labs to develop AI-driven research platforms. 

Grain (Israel)

Founder/s: Dor Golan, Michal Beinisch, Aharon Navon, Avishay Sheba Harari, Anat Sheba Harari
Founded year: 2022
Total funding: $51M

Israeli fintech Grain delivers automated, precision-tailored capital markets products optimised for micro-transactions. Its AI-powered, automated solution enables CFOs and finance teams to incorporate FX risk-adjusted pricing directly into front-end sales platforms. By analysing end user data, the company customises pricing strategies to minimise currency risk. Its technology integrates directly into B2B software platforms, marketplaces, and payment providers, streamlining global transactions.

The company recently secured $50 million in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from existing investors Aleph, Vessey Ventures, and Hanaco Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate product development and double its workforce by the of this year. 

Motif Systems (US)

Founder/s: Amar Hanspal, Brian Mathews 
Founded year: 2023
Total funding: $46M

A building design platform headquartered in California, Motif Systems creates a new platform for building design. The company aims to improve the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry by integrating modern 3D technology, cloud platforms, and AI to develop a dynamic and collaborative process yielding more sustainable and efficient places to live, work and connect.

Motif Systems picked up $46Ml million in seed and Series A funding led by CapitalG and Redpoint Ventures. Pre-seed venture firm Baukunst also participated in both rounds. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts. 

Sola Security (Israel)  

Founder/s: Guy Flechter, Ron Peled
Founded year: 2024
Total funding: $58M

Israeli cybersecurity startup Sola Security tackles the inefficiencies plaguing modern security teams. The platform allows organisations to build and deploy security applications with minimal effort. Users can choose from pre-built security tools in the Sola App Gallery or use the AI-powered no-code studio to create custom solutions. This approach eliminates the need for dedicated security engineers, enabling any security professional to design, implement, and refine security measures on demand.  

The company officially launched from stealth with a $30 million seed round. The funding was led by S Capital and veteran investor Mike Moritz, with participation from S32, Glilot Capital Partners, and prominent angel investors. It plans to accelerate product development and grow its customer base.

Straiker (US)

Founder/s: Ankur Shah, Sreenath Kurupati 
Founded year: 2024
Total funding: $21M

Founded by ex-Palo Alto Networks and ex-Akamai experts, California-based Straiker is a security platform for the AI era. It provides real-time protection for AI applications and agents with an AI-native security solution, which employs a combination of models to deliver precise and fast results. The proprietary models are trained with intelligence from its AI Security Research Team (STAR) and reasoning across every layer of AI apps and agents to ensure complete protection.

Recently, the company was launched with $21M in funding from Lightspeed Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures. Straiker intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Subsense (US)

Founder/s: Tetiana Aleksandrova, Artem Sokolov
Founded year: 2024
Total funding: $17M

Yet another California-based startup is Subsense, a neurotechnology company developing a non-surgical, nanoparticle-based bidirectional brain-computer interface (BCI). Its BCI uses nanoparticles to provide precise monitoring and targeted neural stimulation.  

The system is being developed alongside research partners, including UC Santa Cruz and Switzerland’s Federal Institute of Technology, with Subsense currently working on the development of therapeutics for patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy.

Subsense has raised $17 million in seed funding led by Golden Falcon Capital. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the development of bidirectional nanoparticle-based technologies that connect the human brain with external sources.

Tana (Norway) 

Founder/s: Tarjei Vassbotn, Olav Kriken, Grim Iversen
Founded year: 2020
Total funding: $14M

Norwegian startup Tana, an all-in-one workspace integrates AI into everyday work. It provides an AI-native workspace that makes interacting with computers feel natural. It combines a knowledge graph, object-based note-taking, and customisable AI agents to reduce the steps between thinking and doing. It streamlines capturing, organising, and applying information, so people can spend less time on busywork and more time on deep work.

Tana snapped $14 million in Series A funding led by Tola Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Alliance VC, and firstminute capital. The company intends to use the funds to further enhance its expansion plans, teams, and building AI agents and voice-powered workflows to improve productivity for savvy professionals worldwide.

Ceramic.ai (US)

Founder/s: Anna Patterson, Tom Costello
Founded year: 2024
Total funding: $12M

Ceramic.ai promises to create faster, more efficient systems for training large language models (LLMs) while reducing compute requirements and costs. It is an enterprise-ready platform that’s not just faster but fundamentally more scalable, powering the next generation of AI while dramatically reducing training complexity and cost. As per the company, AI training can scale 100x than tradition models. 

In a recent development, Ceramic.ai has secured $12 million in seed funding from NEA, IBM, Samsung Next, and Earthshot Ventures, highlighting its achievements in long-context training and improved training speeds — 2.5X faster than the state-of-the-art

Model ML (US)

Founder/s: Chaz Englander, Arnie Englander
Founded year: 2023
Total funding: $12.5M

Model ML offers a custom-built AI system for each client, adapting to the specific needs of financial and professional services firms. The platform integrates seamlessly into existing workflows through an API, allowing businesses to embed AI-driven insights into their existing tools. It also offers an intuitive user interface designed to replace Microsoft Office Suite and Google Drive, creating a single AI-powered workspace for professionals. By mimicking human cognitive processes, Model ML allows financial analysts, consultants, and strategists to make high-stakes decisions faster and more effectively. 

Recently, Model ML emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding, aiming to revolutionise how financial professionals work. The funding round was led by Y-Combinator and London-based LocalGlobe, with participation from angel investors. 

nexos.ai (Lithuania) 

Founder/s: Tomas Okmanas, Eimantas Sabaliauskas
Founded year: 2024
Total funding: $8M

Co-founded by Nord Security founders, nexos.ai is an AI orchestration platform for enterprises. The company has developed an AI orchestration platform designed to help enterprises deploy, manage, and optimize artificial intelligence models efficiently. This platform provides access to over 200 AI models from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta, all through a unified interface. Key features include smart model routing, intelligent caching, comprehensive monitoring, and analytics, ensuring enhanced performance, cost-effectiveness, and security for businesses integrating AI solutions. ​

nexos.ai, has emerged from stealth with $8 million in funding. The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Creandum and Dig Ventures.  It also saw participation from a number of angels, including Olivier Pomel (CEO of Datadog), Sebastian Siemiatkowski (CEO of Klarna), through Flat Capital, Ilkka Paananen (CEO of Supercell) and Avishai Abrahami (CEO of Wix.com).